In a vehicle equipped with a turbocharged engine, the charge air is compressed before being injected. Compression generates significant heating to more than 200° C. and so, just upstream of the engine, the air flow traverses a charge air cooler so that the air temperature is lowered to less than 80° C.
This temperature proves still too high to attain the performances desired nowadays. Also, charge air coolers must be as small as possible. A new generation of charge air coolers is therefore awaited by the market.